This song has saved hundreds of people from suicide: 1-800-273-8255

The lyrics to the song that a rapper released in 2017 has helped prevent hundreds of suicides in the United States, according to a study by a professor at the Medical University of Vienna.

In 2017, rapper Logic released his album

and went on a tour where he visited his fans' homes to eat with them.

Many, in those encounters, told him that

.

"In my mind ... I wasn't even trying to save anyone's life," Logic said in a 2017 interview with music magazine Genius, as The Washington Post reports.

Surprised by the response of his followers, Logic assures that he thought: if he was not trying to save anyone before, "what if he really did?"

Rapper Logic composed the song after a tour where he chatted with his fans.Mark Horton / Getty Images

It was then that he

,

which refers to the telephone number of the National Suicide Prevention Line.

Now, a study by Thomas Niederkrotenthaler, of the Medical University of Vienna, assures that the song, in effect, served to reduce the number of suicides.

When the topic was at a peak of popularity, between April 2017 and April 2018, calls to the helpline increased 6.9% and suicides fell 5.5% (representing about 245 cases).

This is known as the Papageno effect, in which the media plays a major role in suicides.

"In suicide prevention, we strive to change the conversation to focus more on hope and recovery," said Niederkrotenthaler.

[Suicides fall in 2020 in the US despite the pandemic but rise among Latinos]

1-800-273-8255,

which stayed on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for weeks, recreates a conversation between a person with suicidal thoughts and an operator.

"I don't want to be alive," says the caller.

The one on the other end of the line responds, "

."

"We made [this song] from a warm place in our hearts to try to save people. And the fact that he actually did it just blows my mind," explained Logic.

If you know someone who may need help to regain their faith in continuing to live, you can visit